1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to weight and balance calculators and particularly weight and balance calculators for small aircraft.
2. Description of Related Art
Airplanes fly because of a balance of four forces, lift, gravity, drag and thrust. Part of task of balancing these forces is knowing the center of gravity of a given aircraft. The center of gravity (CG) of an aircraft changes depending on the load in the aircraft and its location within the aircraft. Thus, a fully loaded plane of passengers and baggage has a different CG as passengers deplane and as luggage is unloaded. This occurs at every stop. Under flight rules, pilots must now keep track of the CG at all stops for a given flight. While sophisticated devices exist for weighing commercial jets for CG calculations, these systems are too expensive and cumbersome for pilots of small aircraft. Although the CG calculation can be made at the small plane's base of operations, it is not so easily calculated at remote terminal airports.